This paper analyzes how multi-level marketing companies (MLMs), via direct selling through electronic commerce (e-commerce) and social media, enact and evade federal language policy to maximize profits. Here we describe the federal language policies that govern this type of e-commerce, and in particular, the language policies of the Federal Trade…

The Bilingual 2030 policy in Taiwan has attracted both support and criticism since it was introduced in 2018. Those who embrace the policy consider it an opportunity for Taiwan to become more globally connected, while those who are skeptical question whether the policy could actually lead Taiwan to a better place in the longer run--not just…

The aim of the paper is to investigate India's language policy for its deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Although India's language policy has been examined in great detail in existing research, policies for deaf and hard-of-hearing have received little attention by scholars. In light of the scarcity of debate and research on policies for deaf…

The field of language policy and planning (LPP) has increasingly expanded its focus beyond legislative measures and macro-level policies toward understanding the power of social actors and their interpretation, appropriation, and creation of language policies in societies. This article aims to advance LPP theory and research by offering a critical…

In a theory of language policy, managers are individuals or institutions with authority to require others to change their language practices or beliefs. Advocates are individuals or institutions who want the same result, but lacking any power to enforce, can only try to persuade. Language academies can be managers or advocates. Standardization is…

A key focus of linguistic landscape research is the interaction among local language policies, the visibility of minority languages on public signage, and the perceptions of residents regarding language use. In China, ongoing urbanization and eased household registration requirements have precipitated an influx of ethnic minority migrants from…

This paper utilizes raciolinguistic genealogy (Flores, in International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2021:111-115, 2021) to explore an historical case study of Spanish Franciscan missionaries in Alta California during an early period of colonization spanning the seventeenth-nineteenth centuries. In the study, I apply a raciolinguistic lens…

While language education programs were created with an equity stance in mind--with the goals of increasing access and facilitating academic success for ethnically and linguistically marginalized students--the larger educational context has compromised access for multiply marginalized students. Recognizing a need for more complex understandings of…

This paper examines the role of language policy and needs assessments in the provision of public services to regional minority and immigrant language speakers in the UK and Finland. Semi-structured interviews with service providers in Helsinki, Rovaniemi, Manchester, and Cardiff revealed how language policy and language needs are conceptualised…

In this article, we reflect on the extent to which 'new speaker' research feeds into recent theoretical discussions in language policy scholarship, especially in connection to the discursive and ethnographically oriented perspectives which of late have become increasingly prominent. We begin with a brief overview of the 'new speaker' concept, its…

This paper explores the interaction between linguistic landscapes and language policies of the Old Quarter in Hanoi, Vietnam to investigate how legislated and de facto language policies come together to create lived monolingualism, multilingualism and hybridity in language displays in public spaces. Our research focuses on language policies as…

This article is about current policy in the coordination of opportunities for adult migrants in England to learn English. People who move to a different country experience a need to learn the dominant language of their new environment, to support their settlement. A willingness to learn the language is a marker of social inclusion from a political…

This paper contemplates the concept of "typographical advocacy," defined here as a variety of activities, strategies, and policies designed to increase or enhance language support in computing systems, facilitating typing and displaying texts in local languages. Focusing on the cases of Spanish and Paraguayan Guarani, the paper traces…

Language policy has an impact both on societies and on individuals, especially in contexts where negative ideologies toward minorities and minority languages may exist. A functional language policy protects a minority and allows it to develop its culture and language, while an ineffective policy might cause irreparable damage and lead to language…

In this article, we analyse the construction of Finnish constitutional bilingualism in the aftermath of gaining independence, a traumatic civil war and during the construction of a new republican polity based on regulated parliamentarism in 1917-1919. We take a multi-sited and historically informed approach to the dynamics of political discourse…